Species

calcium signaling

Summary

Summary: Signal transduction mechanisms whereby calcium mobilization (from outside the cell or from intracellular storage pools) to the cytoplasm is triggered by external stimuli. Calcium signals are often seen to propagate as waves, oscillations, spikes or puffs. The calcium acts as an intracellular messenger by activating calcium-responsive proteins.

..However, more recently it has become clear that cellular Ca2+ overload, or perturbation of intracellular Ca2+ compartmentalization, can cause cytotoxicity and trigger either apoptotic or necrotic cell death...

Glutamate-dependent neuroglial calcium signaling differs between young and adult brain

..We propose that STIM1, a ubiquitously expressed protein that is conserved from Drosophila to mammalian cells, plays an essential role in SOC influx and may be a common component of SOC and CRAC channels...

Early redox, Src family kinase, and calcium signaling integrate wound responses and tissue regeneration in zebrafish

..The channel is inwardly rectifying, making it especially effective for Ca2+ uptake into energized mitochondria. Thus, we conclude that the properties of the current mediated by this novel channel are those of the MCU...

Chan Young ParkDepartment of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USACell 136:876-90. 2009

..These studies establish a molecular mechanism for store-operated Ca(2+) entry in which the direct binding of STIM1 to Orai1 drives the accumulation and the activation of CRAC channels at ER-PM junctions...

..Its discovery may lead to the complete molecular characterization of mitochondrial calcium uptake pathways, and offers genetic strategies for understanding their contribution to normal physiology and disease...

..Therefore, because astrocytes discriminate and integrate synaptic information, we propose that they can be considered as cellular elements involved in the information processing by the nervous system...

Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to cardiomyocytes: role of coculture with visceral endoderm-like cells

..This persistent plasticity was mGluR-mediated but N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-independent. These results indicate that astrocytes are actively involved in the transfer and storage of synaptic information...

..Our data present coherent lines of in vivo evidence for astrocytic involvement in cortical plasticity. These findings suggest an unexpected role of astrocytes as a gate for cholinergic plasticity in the cortex...

..The results of future experimental tests of the astrocyte activation spectrum, which relates gliotransmission to neurological and psychiatric disorders, might point to a new therapeutic target in the brain...

..In any event, the CaR and other receptors/sensors for Ca(o)(2+) and probably for other extracellular ions represent versatile regulators of numerous cellular functions and may serve as important therapeutic targets...

Control of mitochondrial motility and distribution by the calcium signal: a homeostatic circuit

..Diminished mitochondrial motility in the region of the [Ca2+]c rise promotes recruitment of mitochondria to enhance local Ca2+ buffering and energy supply. This mechanism may provide a novel homeostatic circuit in calcium signaling.

..Importantly, although such diverse Ca-dependent regulations occur simultaneously in a cell, the cell can distinguish distinct signals by local Ca or protein complexes and differential Ca signal integration...

Deepak A DeshpandeDepartment of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USANat Med 16:1299-304. 2010

..Given the need for efficacious bronchodilators for treating obstructive lung diseases, this pathway can be exploited for therapy with the thousands of known synthetic and naturally occurring bitter tastants...

..These findings indicate that astrocytes respond to synaptic input, by means of spillover or ectopic release of glutamate, and that increases in astrocytic Ca(2+) occur independently of postsynaptic excitatory activity...

..The emergence of complex decoding properties from the juxtaposition of common elements, and the techniques developed herein, promise generalization to numerous molecules residing near Ca(2+) sources...

..By contrast, TPCN2-specific Ca(2+)-release is unaffected by emptying ER-based Ca(2+) stores. In conclusion, these findings indicate that TPCN2 is a major component of the long-sought lysosomal NAADP-dependent Ca(2+)-release channel...

Role of selenium on calcium signaling and oxidative stress-induced molecular pathways in epilepsy

..This novel phenomenon was heretofore overlooked, probably because of the high vulnerability of astrocytes to light damage; glissandi occurred only when observed at much lower laser intensities than previously used...

..These rapid signals appear to serve both as autonomous regulators of filopodial movement and as frequency-coded signals integrated within the growth cone and could be a common signaling process for many motile cells...

..We provide atomic resolution insight into the molecular basis for STIM1-mediated SOCE initiation and show that the folded/unfolded state of the Ca2+-sensing region of STIM is crucial to SOCE regulation...

..CaMKIalpha is a widely expressed protein kinase, suggesting that Ca2+ is likely to be functionally important in the control of mitochondrial dynamics through regulation of Drp1 phosphorylation in neurons and other cell types...

..We here review the ways in which this system provides integrity and flexibility for the cell to cope with the countless demands throughout its life cycle and discuss briefly the mechanisms through which it can also drive cell death...

Kazuo KitamuraWolfson Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Neuroscience, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UKJ Neurosci 31:10847-58. 2011

Experience with moving visual stimuli drives the early development of cortical direction selectivity

Ye LiDepartment of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USANature 456:952-6. 2008

..Both effects contributed to an increase in local coherence. We conclude that early experience with moving visual stimuli drives the rapid emergence of direction-selective responses in the visual cortex...

..or sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac myocytes) is a principal site for protein folding, calcium storage and calcium signaling. ER stress induced by accumulation of misfolded proteins and alterations in calcium homeostasis can trigger ..

..sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) pump that resequesters calcium into the SER lumen following calcium signaling. The overall goal of this proposal is to show that ethanol-related increases in intracellular calcium levels ..

..3 channels. We have developed highly specific inhibitors of Kv1.3 and these selectively suppress calcium signaling, cytokine production, proliferation, and in vivo migration of TEM cells without affecting other T cell ..

..The information resulting from these investigations has a potential to provide clues to how HCV-induced oxidative stress and calcium signaling may induce profibrogenic factor, TGF-21, liver fibrosis and ultimately liver cancer.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The applicant's long-term aims are to continue studies on calcium signaling, excitation-contraction (EC) coupling, and the dependence of these processes on energy metabolism in cardiac muscle...

..Finally it is anticipated that the proposed experiments will lead to the identification of novel molecular targets for innovative therapeutic approaches for the treatment, prevention, and/or cure of this devastating seizure disorder. ..

..These studies will provide novel insights into cochlear development that might facilitate the advancement of strategies for the regeneration of mechanosensory hair cells that could potentially result in the improvement of hearing. ..

..It is expected that this work will contribute to understanding developmental disorders of the nervous system in which neurotransmitter expression is altered during embryonic and post-embryonic development. ..

..we plan to examine the signaling cascades involved in the induction of excitability changes, including calcium signaling, phosphatases and kinases (including the use of mutant mice deficient in PKC, 1CaMKII and PP2B, respectively)..

..cardiomyopathy result in significant wall thickening, abnormal myofibrillar arrays, arrhythmias, disrupted calcium signaling, and transcript profiles that mimic the human condition, and that these pathologies can be suppressed by ..

..Considered in combination, these investigations will provide the framework for a new understanding of how Ca2+ signals in cells are modulated over extended time periods via crosstalk between autocrine, paracrine and endocrine factors. ..

..Through a genetic screen and subsequent molecular and biochemical analysis, we discovered a calcium signaling pathway in which the calcium-binding protein SOS3 interacts with and activates the protein kinase SOS2, ..

..The 2012 conference will be held in Europe at the GRC site in Les Diablerets, Switzerland. Calcium signaling figures importantly in the adaptive responses of healthy muscle to exercise and age mutations in a number ..